Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Not 1, Not 2, But 3 Umbrellas

Bonjour! I hope everyone back home is having a good day. If you need a laugh, read on and have a good chuckle.

So before I came here, I was told that it rains all the time. All day, every day, France is the land of constant rain. However, it hasn't really rained at all until this week and I've been living here for a month! In fact, within the first few days of getting here, I bought myself a little purple portable umbrella w/ some french text (3 euros) and a bigger, "nicer" clear umbrella with black hearts on it (8 euros). I thought I had made some smart, responsible purchases and was, for the first time in my life, excited for it to start raining. Needless to say, I've been let down. So, it finally rained (and hailed!) this monday. I pulled out my little purple umbrella that I have been keeping in the side pocket of my backpack. Near the end of my 10 minute walk to school, a gust of wind caught my umbrella, turned it inside-out, and completely ruined it. I was pretty upset, but I told myself it wasn't a big deal, it was a cheap umbrella and I kind of knew it was going to happen eventually and that's the whole reason I bought the other "nice" one! If I really needed another "travel-sized" umbrella, I would just go buy another one, after all it was only 3 euros! Well it rained again today.... I used my big clear umbrella and it worked fine until I was on my way to dinner with my friend. And wouldn't it be my luck, THE SAME THING happened with this umbrella; the wind caught it, it turned inside-out, and broke!! This time I was extremely upset because I thought this was supposed to be my sturdy umbrella, but it also broke the first time using it! Enraged at my misfortune, I looked at my friend and said, "There is this awesome store I walked by the other day that has a ton of purses, bags, and umbrellas. It's expensive, but it seems legit so we're going there." We got to the little boutique (surprised it was still open at 6 pm!) and sure enough they had amazingly nice umbrellas .....most of which were in the range of 60-90 euros. There was no way in hell I was going to spend that much on a stupid umbrella, so I almost gave up before my friend said, "Look Kelsi, this one is purple and pink and it's only 25 euros!!" Desperate, I grabbed it. It was then that the owner of the store asked us what happened, as I was holding a plastic umbrella that looked like it had barely survived a hurricane. I explained to her that it was the first time I had ever used that umbrella and it broke, and this was the second time this had happened to me this week! She felt sorry for me and assured me that the umbrella I was holding was much sturdier. I asked her if I could return it if it broke, and she said I most certainly could but assured me that it wouldn't happen. So basically I've spent almost $50 of my France money on stupid umbrellas, but at least I have a gorgeous one now that is guaranteed to withstand random gusts of wind. It is pink and purple and says "chic, il pleut!" on it ....which doesn't really have an English translation so I don't know the best way to explain it to yall, but I think everyone knows what "chic" means and "il pleut" means "it rains." It's pretty and really good quality, so hopefully third time's the charm.